VERITAS Automates Disaster Recovery Software

In keeping with its goal to automate data center environments as part of its utility computing strategy, VERITAS Software Monday
announced it has added rapid server recovery capabilities to its disaster recovery software.

By automating the multiple, manual-intensive tasks required to restore a failed system, Bare Metal Restore technology helps companies bring their computer
systems back up quickly in the event of downtime triggered by a system failure or disaster. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s latest iteration of Bare Metal Restore, version 4.7, automates the server recovery process, eliminating the need for an IT worker to reinstall operating systems or configure hardware by hand.

The software has an “external procedures” feature that allows administrators to create custom scripts within the data recovery process to speed the recovery of the database and applications. This is traditionally a separate step outside the data restoration process and one that has to be performed by separate IT staff.

Bare Metal Restore 4.7 also has a “dissimilar system restore” feature, which allows administrators to restore a Windows system to target hardware that is
completely different than the original source hardware.

VERITAS considers the Bare Metal Restore software a key component of its step-by-step plan for utility computing, helping to ensure that data and applications are “always on” and available across storage arrays comprised of products from multiple vendors.

Business continuity and disaster recovery have long been traits of storage software, particularly over the last few years in the wake of terrorist attacks on the U.S., which caused significant data loss at some major companies. Since then, vendors such as VERITAS, EMC , and IBM have all spent time promoting and upgrading their wares.

By automating Bare Metal Restore 4.7, the software shares characteristics with utility computing environments, which VERITAS has been promoting for the past year or so with the help of key acquisitions.

The concern, which built its name as a backup and recovery software provider via key products like Bare Metal Restore, purchased application performance management player Precise Software Solutions and server provisioning outfit Jareva Technologies in 2003. VERITAS also made a play for application virtualization provider Ejasent last week.

While some research firms, such as IDC, are considerably less enthusiastic about the sector than many of the utility computing providers themselves, the buzz is undeniable.

The frenetic utility, or on-demand, computing space is loaded with competition from companies such as IBM, HP, and now EMC, which recently made its own aquisition bid in moving to acquire VMware to add server virtualization to its deep portfolio.

Bare Metal Restore 4.7 supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, IBM AIX 5.2, and Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Free to current licensees, the software
will be available in February 2004, starting at $900 per Windows client and $1,000 per UNIX client for new customers.

Story courtesy of Internet News.

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